Wallen leaves Wallander creator Yellow Bird

Mikael Wallen has left Yellow Bird, the Zodiak Media-owned production company that makes Wallander and the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He will be replaced by Anni Faurbye Fernandez.

Fernandez is moving up from an executive producer role at the Swedish company and step into the CEO role at start-2013.

“It is with sadness we say goodbye to Mikael. He has been a tremendous asset to the group over many years and has helped establish Yellow Bird as a truly world class company,” said Zodiak Media chief executive David Frank.

He added: “Looking to the future I am delighted that Anni has agreed to take on responsibility for running one of the most important companies in our group. This is an incredibly exciting time for international fiction and I think Anni has all the right qualities to lead the Yellow Bird team as we look to build on its huge success of the last few years”.

Zodiak acquired Yellow Bird in 2007.

The German division of the production company split from the group last month following a management buyout led by managing director Oliver Schundler.